A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by any one of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Computers enjoy wide use in the medical arts. For example, medical database systems for storing and transmitting medical data are known in the art. Medical monitoring systems for monitoring certain known, preexisting medical conditions such as for patients with compromised coronary function or pulmonary function are also known in the art. Lacking in the art is a noninvasive, automated method for diagnosing neurologic cognitive performance and other manifestations of possible neurological pathology.
Published patents include the following:
Stephen J. Brown discloses an online system and method for providing composite entertainment and health information, U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,300. This is an “On-line health education” system. It includes displaying health content and entertainment, where the health content “replaces advertisements.” Brown also discloses a multi-player video game for health education, U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,654.
Brown also discloses a method for diagnosis and treatment of psychological and emotional disorders using a microprocessor based video game, U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,310. Disclosed examples include “schizophrenia, depression, hyperactivity, phobias, panic attacks, anxiety, overeating, and other psychological disorders” such as “personality disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorders, hysteria, and paranoia.”
Brown also discloses a method for treating medical conditions using a microprocessor based video game, U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,603. That patent discloses a method for treating conditions “associated with the patient's behavior pattern or well being.” The patent accordingly claims apparatus directed to the treatment of psychological or emotional conditions. See id. at claim 1.
Brown also discloses a modular microprocessor based health monitoring system, U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,263 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,899,855. That system uses a modem to connect a small handheld microprocessing unit to a central data “clearinghouse,” which in turn faxes hard-copy reports to the attending physician.
James S. Burns discloses an inhalation device with a dose timer, an actuator mechanism and patient compliance monitoring means, U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,133.
Michael K. Dempsey et al. discloses a patient monitoring system featuring a multi-port transmitter, U.S. Pat. No. 5,687,734. The patent claims a system comprising, inter alia, a multi-port transmitter and a “signal transmission section . . . for transmitting the processed data as a telemetry signal.”
Joel S. Douglas et al. discloses an analyte testing system with test strips, U.S. Pat. No. 5,872,713.
Silvio P. Eberhardt discloses a system and method for storing medical histories, U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,488. The system includes a device for communicating with other computers to retrieve large data records about the individual.
Scott Echerer discloses an interactive audiovisual (video conference) communication system for medical treatment of remotely located patients, U.S. Pat. No. 5,801,755.
Jun Fujimoto discloses a home medical system that “includes equipment measuring the electrocardiogram and other heart conditions of a user,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,821.
David Goodman discloses a personal health network “comprising a facility . . . for collecting and routing information” which utilizes two-way communication between the patient and the facility, and between the health care provider and the facility. U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,180.
Yasuo Kumagai discloses a medical file and chart system “for integrating and displaying medical data,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,812,983.
Richard Levin et al. discloses a system for generating prognosis reports for coronary health management, U.S. Pat. No. 5,724,580. The patent discloses a system of formulating a coronary health report “at a centralized data management center for a patient at a remote location,” rather than a system which is able to formulate the report where the patient is.
Patrick Lichter discloses a personal computer card for collecting biological data, U.S. Pat. No. 5,827,179. The patent claims a portable computer card used with an air pressure transducer, see id. at claim 1, or a “biological data receiver,” see id. at claim 6. The specification explains that the biological data receiver is a device that “can be adapted to receive biological data from a pulse oximetry sensor” or “from an ECG sensor.”
Tom Marlin discloses a system for constructing formulae for processing medical data, U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,451. The patent says that rather than providing a prepared statistical analysis package, Marlin discloses a computer interface to construct statistical and other mathematical formulae to ease the analysis of clinical data.
Stephen Raymond et al. discloses a health monitoring system that “tracks the state of health of a patient and compiles a chronological health history . . . us[ing] a multiparametric monitor which . . . automatically measures and records a plurality of physiological data from sensors in contact with the patient's body.” In this system, “[t]he data collected is not specifically related to a particular medical condition” such as neurologic pathology. U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,882.
Norbert Reiner et al. discloses a “care giver data collection and events reminder system for an infant,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,932.
Mitchell Rohde discloses a portable medical diagnostic device, U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,351. The patent describes the claimed invention as a “portable and modular electrocardiogram (ECG) medical device.”
Myron Shabot et al. discloses a system for automatic critical event notification, which “continuously monitors patient statistics and lab data . . . and automatically pages a responsible physician,” U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,986.
Michael Swenson et al. discloses a virtual medical instrument for performing medical diagnostic testing, U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,925 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,776,057. The instrument “includes a universal interface having a number of electrical contacts and sets of electrical conduits associated with the different stored diagnostic test protocols. * * * The system is constructed to enable the selected diagnostic test protocol to be performed on a patient after the corresponding set of electrical conduits are connected to the universal interface contacts and to the patient.”
Christopher Tacklind et al. discloses a system for monitoring and reporting medical measurements, U.S. Pat. No. 5,549,117 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,626,144 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,366 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,709.
Paul Tamburini et al. discloses a diagnostic assay for Alzheimer's disease based on the proteolysis of the amyloid precursor protein, U.S. Pat. No. 5,981,208.
Takahiro Yamaura discloses a remote medical system “in which vital signs . . . are transferred to a first local server through a telephone line,” United States Pat. No. 5,951,469.
The aforementioned patents disclose medical database systems for storing and transmitting medical data, and medical monitoring systems for monitoring coronary function or pulmonary function. The non-patent literature discloses standards for manually diagnosing concussion, as occur in sports. See generally, American Academy of Neurology, “The Management of Concussion in Sports,” Neurology v.48, pp. 581-85 (1997); Cantu, R. C., “Minor Head Injuries In Sports,” Adolescent Medicine v.2, pp. 17-30 (Hanley & Belfus Publ., 1991); Colorado Medical Society, Guidelines for the Management of Concussion In Sports (revised) (1991); Jordan, B. D., “Mild Head Injuries In Sports Summit,” in Sports Injuries (1994).
Not disclosed in the prior art—nor even suggested in it—is a computing apparatus for diagnosing or measuring neurological pathology. There is a need for such an apparatus that is easy to use, portable, and durable, so that it can be used by sports team coaches on the field, by geriatric care nurses in nursing homes or doing home care, by emergency room and long-term care physicians in hospitals, by police and paramedics, and even by patients themselves on their home or hand held computers.